A SENIOR Taliban commander who the Pakistani government believed was dead suddenly resurfaced yesterday, sowing further confusion about the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban days after Baitullah Mehsud’s apparent assassination.
“Both I and our emir, Baitullah Mehsud, are alive,” Hakimullah Mehsud, a fiery young commander, told Reuters news agency by phone. It was one of several interviews in which he rebutted claims by Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik that he was killed in a gun battle during a shura (leadership council) to select a new leader.
“I have proven the government’s claim of my death is wrong and I challenge the government to prove the death of our emir,” Hakimullah said.
A rival commander who was said to have killed Hakimullah, Wali ur Rehman, has also contacted the media.
While claims of a gun battle at the shura became an embarrassment for the government, analysts said earlier claims of Baitullah Mehsud’s death appeared increasingly true. The Taliban leader has not been heard from for six days, since a US drone fired two missiles into the remote farmhouse where he was allegedly staying.
“The onus is still on the Taliban to prove he is alive,” said Peshawar-based analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai.
The contradictory accounts of events in Waziristan underscore the difficulty of obtaining information from the tribal belt, where the government has virtually no control. Western news organisations rely on local journalists who have relationships, often rooted in tribal ties, with the Taliban, said Simon Cameron Moore, Islamabad bureau chief with Reuters.
He denied suggestions that media organisations might be duped by people impersonating militant commanders. “Our reporter is regularly in touch with these guys on the phone and he recognises their voices,” he said.
Even before the latest strike, the Taliban had become paranoid about spies, as the CIA-led drone campaign was becoming increasingly accurate. Nine of the last 10 missile strikes targeted Mehsud’s network. Militants say he changed location as often as every half an hour to avoid detection.
It is not unusual for militants to claim a slain leader is “alive” while they choose a successor.
While reports of Mehsud’s demise have been welcomed across Pakistan, western diplomats warn that it is unlikely to spell the end of the Pakistani Taliban. The leadership crisis could trigger a fresh wave of suicide bombings as the Taliban lurches forward without central direction.
The insurgent movement could also fall further under the sway of al-Qaeda. Mr Malik said Pakistan feared Osama bin Laden might be trying to install his own “chief terrorist” as the head of the Taliban. – (Guardian service)